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Jun 10, 2016
This week’s theme
Words that have changed

This week’s words
ingenuous
specious
purblind
feisty
officious

This week’s comments
AWADmail 728

Next week’s theme
Reduplicatives
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

officious

PRONUNCIATION:
(o-FISH-uhs)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Excessively eager in offering unwanted or unneeded advice or help.
2. Acting in pompous or domineering manner, especially in trivial matters.

ETYMOLOGY:
Earlier, someone officious was dutiful or helpful. Over time, the word acquired a negative sense. From Latin officiosus (dutiful), from officium (service). Earliest documented use: 1487.

USAGE:
“Zimmerman, wearing a banker’s collar and projecting an officious air into the room, continued.”
Sonia Smith; Unfriendly Climate; Texas Monthly (Austin); May 2016.

See more usage examples of officious in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
[Destroying rain forest for economic gain] is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal. -E.O. Wilson, biologist, naturalist, and author (b. 10 Jun 1929)

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